Upon watching the Buffalo Zoo documentary, it is apparent that Donna Fernades holds all the qualities of a great leader. She is the very definition of leadership because she influences her staff to work toward a common goal. When Donna arrived at the zoo it was in pretty bad shape, but because she had the drive and ambition to see the zoo succeed, she stepped up to the challenge of turning the zoo into a successful business with employees that want to succeed as much as she wants to succeed. Honesty and integrity are two words that are spoken several times during this segment. These words are used to describe Donna’s personality. It is indicated more than once that she “tells it like it is”, and that she is honest and straightforward. That is one wonderful trait of a successful leader. Another trait that Donna illustrates is self-confidence. She is very confident that getting her employees involved in other aspects of the zoo would provide a boost in employee morale, and it works. The employees are happy with the conversions that Donna is implementing, and they are interested in being a part of the transition. …show more content…
She initiates structure by setting goals, assigning tasks, and giving directions. Everyone at the zoo knows what is expected of them, and also knows what to expect of Donna. She also showed great consideration to her employees, especially the animal keepers. By learning exactly what the animal keepers do on a day to day basis, and actually doing the job with them, she shows that she supports them and understands the difficulty of their job. She encourages and supports her employees. Unlike her predecessors, she chooses to enforce positive reinforcement when it comes the zoo workers. Instead of making their employees feel like part of the team, like Donna does, the previous managers made employees feel like